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PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, January 9, 1996 -3 RISKY BUSINESS: A worker hurriedly makes his way around raging waters Thursday afternoon, after a six-inch water main was broken on Bigelow St. in Port Perry. Crews worked until midnight at the scene, and nearby homes went without water from around 2 p.m. until about 11 that night. One home, at the corner of Bigelow and Macdonald, sustained serious flooding in the basement. Water from the broken main washed down the hill and caused some minor flooding on Simcoe St. One home is flooded Crews scramble to fix water main By Jeff Mitchell Port Perry Star Repair crews worked frantically through frigid weather Thursday to repair water to a Port Perry neighborhood after a watermain was punctured early in the afternoon. Water cascaded out of the ruptured line and flooded nearby lawns and basements after the mishap, which took place just before 2 p.m. on Bigelow St. at Macdonald St. A contractor working for Consumers Gas was installing a home service and attempted to "torpedo" under Bigelow St. when the accident occurred, said Scugog roads superintendent Ronn McDonald. "Sometimes if the torpedo hits a rock or something it will go out of line and you don't know where it's going to go, which is what I assume happened here," he said. Water started gushing from the six-inch main and poured across Bigelow, flooding down an incline and rushing toward two houses. One, at the corner of Bigelow and Macdonald, had its basement flooded with up to five feet of water. Next door Melody and John Roncetti's home sus- tained some flooding, but not as bad as that occurred at the home of Bruce and Jean Shaw. Water cascaded down Macdonald St. and pooled on Simcoe St., where drivers had a tricky time negotiating through the deep, rapidly-freezing puddles. Some of the water washed as far downhill as Perry St. Mrs. Roncetti said crews worked feverishly to shut the main down, and then restore water to households in the area. They toiled as darkness fell, and the tem- perature plummeted. Residents finally had water restored around 11 p.m. "The poor guys, they've worked really hard," she said Friday. "They were here until midnight. "I've got to give them credit. They tried their darn- dest to fix a really unfortunate situation." Township roads crews scraped away at ice that formed on the streets and put down sand and salt, but they remained icy Friday because of the extreme cold. ~ GM confident despite sales drop Share of market up with some models, VP claims Housing group Is still alive despite funding cutbacks Despite being ravaged by government cutbacks, a local organization is continuing to pursue its dream of creating housing for seniors and the dis- abled. "North Durham Alternative Housing is still alive," group chair John Gillham said last week in announcing a meeting next Wednesday (Jan. 17) of his group to plot strategy. Mr. Gillham and his group want to build afford- able apartments for seniors and the disabled who may need some assistance, but remain independent enough that institutional care isn't required. Last year they secured funding from the Ontario min- istries of Health and Housing, and announced plans to begin building soon. But the jobsOntario project was cancelled soon after the June election of the Progressive Conservatives, who scrapped similar projects across the province. Mr. Gillham said the North Durham group still has Ministry of Health funding, but will have to come up with additional funding from the commu- nity to make the building -- to serve residents of Scugog, Uxbridge and Brock -- a reality. At the meeting in Uxbridge next Wednesday it's hoped service groups, churches, hospital adminis- tration and other interested people will come together to discuss how to make that happen. "Our housing project has to take a new direction, because there will be no help from the government," said Mr. Gillham. "It pretty well has to be a com- munity-based effort." Also attending will be a representative of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. from Oshawa. The organization's mandate includes a responsibil- ity to provide housing for seniors. Despite a decrease in the Canadian vehicle mar- ket in calendar year 1995, GM of Canada vice presi- dent of marketing Tom Mason feels there were "some very positive signs for GM during the past 12 months, leading to opti- mism for 1996." "While we were obvious- ly disappointed we didn't match or surpass the pre- vious year's strong sales, we are delighted with the fact the Chevrolet Cava- lier was the best-selling: carin Canada for the sixth straight year. With sales of 43,978 units, Cavalier outsold its nearest com- petitor by more than 11,000 units. Its sister product, the Pontiac Sun- fire, also made a strong impact, selling 32,900 units by year's end," said Mr. Mason. GM of Canada also gained more than a full point of market share in cars in a down market, which reflects the strong customer acceptance of all of our new products, he said. GM of Canada sold 384,270 vehicles in the 1995 calendar year, a de- crease of 6.2 per cent from 1994. Truck sales totalled 156,326 units, down 5 per cent, while car sales shipped 7.1 per cent to 227,944 units. For the month of De- cember, GM's truck sales of 11,685 units reflected a 4.6 per cent reduction compared to December 1994, while car sales for the month were off 8.5 per cent from the same period last year, with sales of 12,695 units. Combined new vehicle sales for De- cember totalled 24,380 units, down 6.7 per cent from December 1994 sales. Fresh Cooked Pasta Homemade Soups & Chili Sandwiches (made to order any way you want them) Salads ° Daily Specials Desserts * Breakfast Everything is prepared fresh daily! . oR Pat's Deli Port Perry Plaza 75: 0985-91557 YS EX Mon. to Sat. 8am to 4pm WINDOWS & PATIO DOORS ENERGY EFFICIENT i] DRAFTS and xy h 's Deli Pat's Deli in the Port Perry Plaza WINDOWS REDUCE INCREASE WARMTH. 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